I've raced on the Cervelo for almost 3 years. Mostly climbs - in particular djconnel's Low Key Hill Climbs Series (http://lowkey.djconnel.com/2009/) in the SF Bay Area.The Z5 is awesome. Definitely the better 'all-rounder' - smoother on the flats, and feels tighter on the descents. But I think that the R3SL still has the 'edge' on the climbs.Maybe it's a little stiffer in the rear triangle - the R3SL chain stays are pretty massive ? Maybe it's just an 'old friend' - and doesn't want to be replaced ...

OK - so now the HARD PART (never thought I'd have 2 bikes THIS NICE) - what components to put on which bike ?

I built-up the Parlee Z5 with the 7900 group that I had after the swap to Di2 on the R3SL. Now I'm thinking that it might be best to move the Di2 over to the Parlee. I'll likelybe riding/racing on it more this year - and save the R3SL for my Hill Climb bike. Only 'snag' is the BB30 on the Z5. I got the Zipp Vuma BB30 Adapter Kit and installed it onthe Z5 - and it's working like a champ. Not sure if the Vuma Quad's outer ring is up to the power of the Di2 FD (it's got some umph). If not - then I'd need to yank the BB30bearings and press-in some 'adapters' to get the DA7950 Crank over there. It's rings are INCREDIBLY stiff. No worries there.

Dude. Black cranks & black crank bolts. With all the black around here these days it's shadier than an elm tree on an overcast day during the winter solstice. What's not to like? Plus, you can use different BCDs, 2 (allegedly) different powermeters, and you can use what ever chain rings you want except 135s or 144s (which is going to change in the near ish future). All this and you don't have to buy different cranks, just the parts.

Must admit if I had a BB30 frame I would jump to a Hollogram crank they are a classic item. I am presently running a DA carbon crankset with stronglight rings (ie not 7900 rings) with Di2 and have found the shifting to be excellent - I have a vumaquad on my other bike and I would say that the stronglight rings and VQ rings are about same stiffness and I would expect similar shifting perfrormance with Di2 and VQ's - go for itMy bike mechanic did say that the shifting with Di2 and non-7900 rings on my bike was a touch slower but all I can say is that the shifting is amazingly quick (and I don't have to use that really unattractive 7900 chainset)

First time posting on here (although lurk here every day). It's funny, I have the exact same bikes as you. My 08 Cervelo R3SL has Sram Red with Vuma cranks and my unfinished Parlee has Di2 as well as the Vuma cranks. Somehow the Vumas don't look quite right on it and can't get over putting a cannondale hollowgram crankset on it. Wish there were better alternatives. Hopefully AX offers a BB30 specific crankset. ANYHOW, one thing you should keep in mind is that the stock Di2 rear harness cabling is too short for the Parlee Z5. More specifically the FD cabling. The bottom bracket is so massive that where the junction B harness mounts underneath the BB shell results in an inadequate length to plug into the FD. Won't matter what size Di2 rear harness you use since only the downtube cabling length changes on different size kits. You need to somehow mount the junction B harness about 2 inches further back in order to route to the front der. I've played around with it and esthetically and functionally, moving it back was the only way to make it work. Talked to Parlee to bring this to their attention. They even went so far as to call Shimano which say they are fully aware that certain frames have incompatibility issues. They are working to resolve this with an adaptor. But for the meanwhile, thats what i did to mine was to move it 2 inches back with a homemade extension/adaptor. Just to let you know in case you wanted to switch over to Di2 on the Parlee.

Thanks for the info trikobe - *very* timely !!!I'm looking forward to PICs of how you did your FD routing when you're back.Think I'm going to hold-off swapping the Di2 until then - so I can get a feel for what's in store.

And for those who are interested - and a *big* thanks to trikobe - here's the 'mod' that was required to reposition the Junction-B back further on the BB so that the cable routing for the FD would work.Basically - take a Di2 Bottle Adapter (Shimano SMBA01) - cut it in half - and use it to relocate the retainingscrew back ~1 to 1.5". A little 'dead-blow-hammer' action over something that resembles the undersideof the bottom bracket and you're good-to-go.

Absolutely the best riding frame I've owned to date - and with the Di2 it's an absolute blast !For such a light frame - I continue to be impressed at how nicely it smooths-out the bumps,but still climbs and sprints incredibly well. Ditto for descending. I was pushing corners fastertoday than I ever felt comfortable on the R3SL (and it had an Edge fork on it).

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